a student pastor and seminarian's "eclectic" blog

Monthly Archives: October 2015

The seventh beatitude revolves around “peace.” Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9, ESV). Jesus Himself was the ultimate peacemaker. Paul wrote, “And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:20, ESV). Christ’s death made it possible for us to have peace with God and should motivate us to pursue peace with others.

Osborne does a good job highlighting the vertical and horizontal dimensions of “peace” tied up in this verse. He commented:

This connotes both peace with God and peace between people—the latter flows out of the former. Jesus is the supreme peacemaker, who reconciles human beings with God through the cross (Col 1:20), so the supreme peacemaking is the proclamation of the gospel (Osborne, Matthew, Kindle Loc. 3352-3357).

We become peacemakers by proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Supreme Peacemaker. And, we seek peace within the church and between the church and the world. All of this is connected to the gospel and our relationship to the One who made peace by his shed blood on the cross.

The result of being a peacemaker is being called a son of God. Carson wrote, “The peacemaker’s reward, then, is that he will be called a son of God. He reflects his heavenly Father’s wonderful peacemaking character” (Carson, The Sermon on the Mount, 27). Let us seek to demonstrate our familial relation to God by pursuing peace through gospel proclamation and gracious interaction with believers in the church and unbelievers outside the church.

The sixth beatitude deals with the human heart. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). Jesus was likely drawing from Psalm 24:3-4, which says, “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not ever swear deceitfully.” Jesus beatitude, as well as Psalm 24, make it clear that only those with a pure heart will see God.

This presents a problem, though, because the one who says that only the pure in heart will see God (Jesus) is the same one who points out the deptavity of the human heart. As D. A. Carson put it:

The human heart, “the center of the entire personality,” is sinful and corrupt. Every person is born with a wicked heart. Therefore, no one can see God based on their purity of heart.

Thankfully, it is possible to have our hearts made clean. In Psalm 51, David confesses his sin, confident that God can create a clean heart in him (vs. 10). He prays in repentance and faith for a clean heart. Likewise, we can receive clean hearts through repentance and faith in Christ. When we turn from sin and trust Christ, our hearts are purified and we are enabled to see God. This means that, ultimately, our ability to see God is based on Christ’s work and not our own. Praise God for Christ’s death and imputed righteousness, whereby sinners receive a clean heart and can see God “now spiritually…and in fullness after Christ returns” (Osborne, Matthew, ZECNT, Kindle Location 3352)!